Wait... Together?

Chapter 4

As I walk into my cabin I realize I kind of like it. It's cozy. It isn't like a summer camp cabin where there'd be a shit ton of beds in one room but we have a little kitchenette and a living room, there are three bedrooms, each with two double beds, and then two bathrooms to share. I look in each room to find wherever my roommate is. He doesn't seem to be here yet so I pick a room and a bed and start unpacking.

Coach Glass said we have a couple of hours to spend in our cabin before we go for lunch and a quick orientation/tour. I decide to spend my time napping. Even though I slept for like the whole ride here I'm still pretty tired. I can sleep a lot.

But before I can fall asleep, some moron comes in blabbing about "Are you Ethan?" like yes, obviously I'm Ethan. I don't know how he'd know that, but that is not important.

When I open my eyes to see who this dumbass is, I see this absolutely stunning man. I didn't know basketball nerds could look so pretty. In that moment, I feel blessed. "Um- yeah. You're Henry?" He nods and comes in to set his stuff down.

"Sorry, did I wake you?" He's got the hottest voice. It's sorta deep but also really, really soft if that makes sense. It's like despite his deep voice, he's really gentle and wouldn't hurt a fly.

"Uh. No. No, you didn't. I was just, like, resting my eyes. For a bit. Now that I think about it I need to pee." I've never been that awkward around someone before. I think I have a brain tumor. I'm gonna text Drew. He should know that I have a brain tumor. I grab my phone and send him a text. 'Hey, Drew. I just found out I have a brain tumor. My symptoms are that my roommate walked in and suddenly I couldn't talk properly. I love you, man. This may be the end, so I just wanted you to know.'

I wait for a few more moments as I finish up in the bathroom. I wasn't actually doing anything, just sitting on the toilet, but I needed it to be believable to my audience. Finally, as I'm fake washing my hands, Drew texts me back. 'Man that really sucks. I hope you feel better. Get well soon 🥰"

"Asshole," I mutter quietly as I leave the restroom. I go sit on our little front porch instead of going back into that hell room, and I call my cousin, Eden.

"Ethan, hey! What's up." She says as she picks up the phone.

"Eden, this is serious. I think I may be dying." She's silent for a moment, waiting for me to continue, so I do. "I'm not kidding. I was perfectly fine the whole bus ride to camp, and then I got off, went in my room, got ready to take a nap, and then my roommate came in. I was thinking weird things and I couldn't talk properly. It was so weird. This has never happened. I'm almost always cool as a cucumber. I think it's the air up here. It's poisoned for sure, Eden."

I finally take a breath as she starts talking. "Never, and I mean never, start a call with me like that again. And trust me, dude, you're fine. You probably just think they're hot and got flustered. It's normal, believe me."

"But I'm not gay. I've never been gay. I think I'd know if I was gay, Eden. Trust me, I would know. I would know if I was gay, Eden." I swing back and forth on the swinging bench that have out here. That was genius. Helps in silly situations like this one. When I'm NOT gay.

"You've convinced me." She responds, flatly.

"Fuck off. I'm not gay. Trust me. I'm gonna go in there right now and I'll be perfectly fine. Watch." I hang up the phone and walk back inside, determined. But when I get to the door of my room, Henry's sitting on his bed with his back against the headboard, bareback. As in, he isn't wearing a shirt. Like, none. But that's okay because I'm not gay. And not gay people don't care about seeing a guy's bare chest. So I don't care. It doesn't matter and it doesn't affect me.

I'm perfectly unaffected as I walk to my bed and sit on it. And I'm perfectly unaffected when I refuse to look anywhere but at my phone as I scroll on TikTok. Because that is what a non-gay person would do in this situation.

Until he talks. And I hear his voice again. And I want to melt into a puddle because of it. "Hey, Ethan?"

"Yeah?" I barely manage to get that out. It's unsure and quiet. I'm like a baby bunny trying to talk to a bear. Except the bear is shirtless and I'm not gay.

"Would you mind shutting the door? The rest of the guys are being kind of loud." Right. There are other people in this house. That makes this so much better. I haven't seen any of them yet so I really don't know who they are.

"Yeah. Yeah, of course." But as soon as I turn back around after closing the door, I realize I am faced with a challenge. He's still shirtless. If I just avoid looking at him, I will be perfectly fine.

So for the next hour, I completely avoid looking at him. This will all go away if I just pretend it isn't happening. So when I get a text from Coach saying it's time for our lunch/orientation thing, I jump at the opportunity to leave this little room. That is, until he says, "You wanna walk to lunch together, bro? I mean we're both heading there anyway so why not? We can spend some time and get to know each other since we're gonna spend the next week together anyways, we might as well get a head start."

That is exactly not what I wanted to hear right now. But as a straight individual, I can converse with a pretty guy. "Oh, yeah, sure."

"Okay. So, Ethan. What's your favorite color? Mine is red, personally." I glance at him, he doesn't look like his favorite color would be red. Maybe purple. He gives off purple vibes.

"I like green, but it changes a lot." I stare at the ground for most of the walk. No one makes me this nervous. I don't like it.

"Ah, yeah. Me too. So, how long have you been playing football?" I don't know. I don't remember. You're too close. Six feet minimum, please.

"I started in kindergarten. My dad liked throwing a ball around with me after school." I was gonna keep talking. I meant to. But his arm touched mine and I couldn't. My mouth was paralyzed.

"That's so young. I wish I had started basketball that young. I feel like I could be so much better if I had started practicing earlier."

"No, you're amazing. So good at basketball."

"Have you ever seen me play before?" He looked over at me and I shook my head truthfully.

"Sorry," I muttered. "I'm sure you're great though. You talk like you'd be good at basketball if that helps." I don't know what that means. Why would I say that of all things? You talk like you'd be great at basketball? Yeah, okay.

"I've never heard that one before but thanks. I'll keep that in mind." I nod. That's all I can do. We walk the rest of the way in silence. I finally get a breath of relief when I see Drew. I say bye to Henry and rush over to Drew. I try to forget everything that happened but that's starting to seem impossible.